Street-railway rail



(No Model.)

B. T. WHITE.

STREET RAILWAY RAIL.

Patented Deo.Z5, 1888.

IYIEJYEHTU I".

NlTElD STATES Pater rrroh.

REYNOLDS T. HITE, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

STREET-RM LWAY RAIL.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 395,302, dated December 25, 1888.

' Application filed April 2, 1888. Serial No. 269,389. (No model.) i

T0 to whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, REYNOLDS '1. WHITE, a citizen of the United States, residing at Bos ton, in the county of Suffolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Street-Railway Rails, of whichthe following is a specification.

The object of my invention is to produce a rail for street-railways in which the groove will be kept from filling up with dirt by the flange of the car-wheels passing along it and in which carriage-wheels may easily ride or may pass out of the groove of the rail.

The invention consists in constructing the inner portion of the rail from the tread up on a slight incline,which extends up to or nearly to the level of the tread and then level for a short distance inward, said rail having a rib at or near its center on its under side, all as hereinafter fully described, and set forth in the claim.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 represents a street-railway rail embodying my invention, and provided with a central vertical rib. Fig. 2 represents a flat rail embodying my invention, with the inner side level with the tread. Fig. 3 shows a similar rail in which the inner side is below the tread.

A is the tread of the-rail; 1-3, the groove in which the flange of the car-wheel runs.

0 is the inner flat surface, and D the straight incline between the bottom of the groove and the inner surface, C.

By means of the straight inclined portion D any dirt that may become deposited in the bottom of the groove will be forced out as the car-wheel passes along, as the flangeof the wheel will act as a wedge and force the dirt up the incline D and out of the groove B, no matter 110w hard the dirt may be packed therein by carriages or other vehicles passing over it.

By means of the straight inclineD carriagewheels that may get into the groove B can be easily drawn out, as the wheels will readily run up the incline and out of the track, not being confined by a straight sharp side, as in rails of ordinary construction.

The inner flat bearing-surface, C, may be on a level with the tread A, or a short distance below it, as shown, and the rails may be formed girder-shaped, as shown in Fig. 1, or flat on their under side, as shown in Figs. 2 and 3, or of any other desired shape.

I am aware that rails have been made with a groove, so as to make the road level, or nearly so, on each side of the track; but a very reat objection to these rails is that dirt becomes packed in the groove so hard by vehicles passing over it that the car-wheel, instead of running upon the tread of the rail, runs with its flange on the packed dirt, and its tread is not on the rail at all. It will be seen that by my construction this objection is overcome.

hat I claim as my invention is- A rail for street-railways having a rib at or near its center on its under side and its flange formed on a straight upward incline to or near the heightof the tread of the rail, then parallel with the tread of the rail to form a level surface, as and for the purposes described.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

REYNOLDS T. WHITE.

\Vitnesses:

HENRY W. FOLSOM, E. PLANTA. 

